Havana, Tuesday, June 07, 2016– The researcher in charge of the projectFMCR is pleased to announce a new art book on the career of the contemporary Cuban painter Fidel Micó available for free download at Google Drive. The publication of the fifth edition of a Catalogue Raisonnée dealing with the career and life of this ambidextrous painter is now freely accessible to the world. This update is available for free download at:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0NtPFr2mHREdi1ocG50dldWWEU/view?usp=sharing.
The Fidel Micó Catalogue Raisonnée is a book plenty of pleasant images and useful information on the process of painting natural landscapes. The project is an exceptional opportunity to study the painting of an artist with special natural gifts scarce among contemporary artists (http://es.artscad.com/@/FidelMicó). New evidences found during the last year of research included in this book are: 5 new images of oil on canvas painted in 2015, additional details on the provenance of 11 artworks, the expansion of his market to The Netherlands, 5 additional peer-review publications, examinations in the original of 33 oil on canvas, and 3 new images on authenticity. A recent exhibition in Mexico City, the book “The silence smell” (http://www.lulu.com/shop/celia-charlotte-and-jos%C3%A9-a-buxad%C3%B3/the-silences-smell/ebook/product-22453675.html) the increase of international visibility of his son Michel Micó (http://en.artscad.com/@/MichelMicó), and recent historical events in Cuba have confirmed the fair market value of his paintings.
Evidences found during the study supports the argument that Fidel Micó started painting spontaneously in 1972, using both hands, and without formal training, when he was 10 years old. His talent didn’t receive attention, support, encouragement, or influence from local artists. A painting created by the artist in 1980 demonstrates his pictorial mastery when he was student at the Academy of Fine Art “San Alejandro” in Havana, Cuba. Although the most important national newspaper described the exceptional aesthetic excellence of Fidel Micó in 1985 (Granma, November 22nd, 1985), he was recognized as professional painter by local galleries 14 years later. This artist also worked on repoussageand art craft during the second half of the 90s, but, by that time, he was only accepted by critics and artists as a landscape painter. Exceptional abilities, from the synergic performance of both hands working in a small painting room (2.0 x 2.0 x 2.4 m), almost always at night, were confirmed at the artist’s studio. Fidel Micó has never made identical copies of original paintings, although some of them look like similar. It is interesting to note that he has sold hundreds of oil on canvas to local and foreign collectors, dealers and galleries, at least, from 1980, signing certificate of authenticity and certificate of ownership to a few of them.
Although significant provenance gaps remain in the artist’s career, and current locations of most paintings are unknown, investigations on anomalies in the artist’s market have been the source of critical information (Art Documentation, 2015, 34 (2): 349-353). The primary market of the painter was immobilized during 2 years after a rare commercial operation in 2010. Fidel Micó has confirmed that he didn’t paint a piece offered to auction in 2010 by Heritage Auction Inc (Dallas, Texas), and reported by Davenport’s Art Reference & Price Guide, which confirm the value of a well-documented career by a Catalogue Raisonnée. His frequent changes on the signature calligraphy have been intentional to facilitate identifications of illegal copies, because he has been informed on eight imitations of his work. Influence of the Russian master Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin (1832-1898), and the Cubans Esteban Chartrand y Dubois (1840-1883) and Valentín Sanz Carta (1849-1898) was also confirmed by interview.
